A federal high court in Abuja has ordered the Department of State Services (DSS) to pay the sum of N2 million for general damages to publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, over the unlawful seizure of his phones in 2019.
Recall that the secret service arrested Sowore on August 2, 2019, and seized his phones. Despite being granted bail by two courts, the DSS failed to release the activist. He was, however, eventually released on December 24, 2019.
This made Sowore to institute a lawsuit against the secret service to compel the agency to return his seized phones. Court orders DSS to pay N2m to Sowore over illegal seizure of his phones
Delivering judgment in the suit today December 8, Justice Anwuli Chiekere held that the suit is not an abuse of court process as claimed by the respondent’s counsel.
Consequently, she ordered that the phones and money seized from Sowore in August 2019 be returned to him and N2 million paid to him as damages. She also ordered the DSS to apologize to him publicly in two national dailies.
